A bionic hand which allows patients to feel sensations as well as controlling
its movements with their mind is to be fitted to an amputee's arm for the
first time.

The prosthetic device uses electrodes to relay messages to and from the brain via nerves in the arm, meaning the patient can direct it with their thoughts.

It transmits sensory feedback from all five fingers as well as the palm and the wrist, meaning it feels lifelike and allows the patient to grasp objects accurately.

The robotic hand will be attached directly to an anonymous patient's arm for the first time this year at a hospital in Rome, scientists announced at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston on Sunday.

Dr Silvestro Micera of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, who developed the device, said: "This is real progress, real hope for amputees.

"It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping...the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely you will get full acceptance of that limb."

Being able to feel the hand as if it is their own will allow people to use it in a "more natural, rich and effective way," he added.

The device is controlled by electrodes which are implanted into the median and ulnar nerves, allowing signals to flow down the patient's arm in both directions.

The electrodes stimulate the patient's sensory system, allowing them to feel surfaces they touch and grasp objects accurately and safely.

A four-week clinical trial showed the robotic device could be controlled by an amputee who was connected to the hand by wires while it stood on a table, but who was not fully attached to it.

Pierpaolo Petruzziello, 26, demonstrated that by concentrating on trying to manipulate the hand he could move the fingers, make a fist, hold objects like a bottle of water, and was able to feel when needles were jabbed into it.

The device took just a few days for Mr Petruzziello to master and by the end of the month he was able to move the hand in the way he wanted 95 per cent of the time.

Since that experiment the prosthetic has been improved so that it can be attached to the new patient, who is in their 20s and lost their lower arm in an accident.

Should the month-long trial be successful, researchers hope to have a finished product ready for testing within two years.

Dr Micera said: "It could deliver two or more sensations. You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist.

"We have refined the interface, so we hope to see much more detailed movement and control of the hand.

"It is intended to be as lifelike as possible...we hope that one day it will be embedded in the arm and the user will just forget it is there."

The next goal will be to develop a model with electrodes which sit under the skin rather than on top of it, which would allow it to remain on the arm permanently.

The current model, which relies on wires which travel through the skin, can only be kept on for a month before being removed.